Leadership Skills from MMOs: From Guild Master to General Manager

HBR agrees with Joi Ito.
MMOs can provide a social environment where you pick up leadership skills like people management, challenge navigation, and resource allocation. Not only that, you could get a job at Yahoo!

Q. I’ve seen you quoted about your love of playing World of Warcraft, the multiplayer video game, and how it has taught you to be a better leader. How has online gaming prepared you for this job at the Media Lab?A. What’s interesting about a World of Warcraft guild is that you’ve got a group of people who are showing up and actually paying money to play this game, and as a leader of a guild, you’re trying to encourage a bunch of people to do a bunch of administrative work, come up with guild bylaws, and cooperate. And this is similar with volunteers at Creative Commons and open-source projects. It’s trying to lead a bunch of people who are just there because they want to be. It’s a very different kind of management than say managing a bank or an investment bank, where you’ve got sticks and carrots and structure. The leadership method of online communities and World of Warcraft and open-source projects is actually really similar to doing something like leading a bunch of super-smart, creative academics and students.

Older article from wired, How a WOW leader got a job at Yahoo! as Director of Operations

"I used to worry about not having what I needed to get a job done," he says. "Now I think of it like a quest; by being willing to improvise, I can usually find the people and resources I need to accomplish the task." His story - translating experience in the virtual world into success in the real one -�is bound to become more common as the gaming audience explodes and gameplay becomes more sophisticated. The day may not be far off when companies receive r�sum�s that include a line reading "level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft.

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"I have a generativity complex – it's a neurological disorder induced by exposure to Post-its and M&Ms."

• Senior Interaction Designer, IDEO Shanghai.
• OpenIDEO lurker, tire kicker and collaborator.
• A transplant from San Francisco via Italy via Seoul via Minneapolis via Maui (originally).
I like complex issues like transportation, education, and food systems. I think politicians should have a methodology for problem solving. I also like media and entertainment, and have an unhealthy interest in marketing (everybody's got a vice.) I heart Evernote, Google Docs, and "KS" as knowledge sharing is called at IDEO. I try to be involved, advocate, instigate. Prefer workshops to presentations. And there's a lot in this world that makes me #facepalm, but there's also a lot that makes me smile.

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Interesting. I think skill building in game-like environments is something that has been going on for years. Whether it is role play in trainings, World of Warcraft or business games. I remember from university that we were given a game to understand the mechanics of managerial decisions and stock prices. It was very simple, but it helped understand how things work.